It's Your Story Now

In my faily small town which is a bedroom community of Madison we canvassed our entire list today by 6pm (shifts were suppose to run until 8pm).  We will be back out there knocking on all of those doors again for the next 3 days!  I have people showing up at my house, which is the staging location that haven't even signed up to volunteer - they just heard about it from friends or the website.  It is great to see Dad's bringing their kids to canvass for a shift.  We had a teen that convinced his mom and dad to canvass with him today.  Beyond inspiring!  We also had Rod Nilsestuen, Secretary, WI Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection come by my house today to rally the volunteers.  What a day!

I e-mailed the story in the main post to Al.  I had to.  I was just flabbergasted by the energy I saw this.

 

To any and all Field Hands reading this: I implore you to leave everything on the road.  Tomorrow.  Monday.  Tuesday.  Make some calls, knock on some doors, meet some voters face to face and make a connection.  Something is happening in America.  Something has broken free that the powers that be have desperarely tried to keep chained and impotent.

 

Tuesday is our St. Crispin's day.  If you hit the road I promise you will never forget what happens next.

Hi Al! Saw your twitter, and came running over to tell some stories.

So i spent the day calling from Berkeley HQs. Myself and 3 others (incuding field hand Jeff) were supposed to spend this weekend in Reno, Nevada. But we received a call from the campaign that asked us to phonebank instead, since we were unable to work all 4 days till Tuesday. Sad face, but we will go where we are needed. We will be back phonebanking tomorrow.

We showed up to Berkeley HQs, bagels in hand for everyone. The place was PACKED. packed packed packed. We had to move over to an overflow office across the street.  Started at 9am, ended at about 3. They kept running out of calling sheets, it was so crowded! Amazing turnout.

Some Florida stories; all of our calls were to the Fort Meyers, Fort Lauderdale and Miami area, so these are the highlights. I think we made roughly 175 calls each:

+ only one angry response. crazy enough, this one from an Obama supporter who had just had it with all the calls and hung up. So many of these call lists go to other organizations. You just have to smile through it and soldier on to the next call. It was my first real human answer so I was a bit bummed.

+ one person called me back after i left a message to make sure i tallied him down as "VOTED; FOR OBAMA".

+ one lovely African American man told the story of how he stood in line yesterday with his elderly father for 5+ hours to vote. They eventually had to leave the line to take his father to the hospital. Father is fine and they are going back to vote tomorrow. (Early voting in Florida is 7am-7pm all weekend, but not on Monday). He said this was the election of the lifetime and teared up; he said he was doing all he could to get people out to vote himself.

+ a woman in her mid-40s said she was leaving town for the weekend but had offered her friends office up earlier this week for a staging area.

+ a wonderful elderly woman said this was her first time voting in 45 years. 45 YEARS! She is a registered Republican and herself, her husband, and her son all are voting Obama.

+ one elderly woman is unable to move from her bed, but asked us to call her son. She said he was supposed to vote in honor of her and would vote for whomever she wanted. We offered her a ride to the polls but she cannot move. So she passed on the number to her son and we gave him a call. He will be voting for Obama in honor of her.

+ one person who answered was also phonebanking from Florida and we shared a laugh. he had already voted.

Oakland and Berkeley are on fire! So many people phonebanking, i can't keep up with my friends who are all out there working their asses off.

Hi Al and Fieldhands,

I am working out of the South Fulton County Campaign for Change office.  We are almost totally volunteer staffed--there is one paidField Organizer.  Our GOTV effort has been in high gear for the past few weeks.  Over 35% of registered voters voted early in Georgia.  When I last checked yesterday, 35% of early voters were African Americans.  Voters are not identified by party in Georgia statistics.

Since last commenting on the Field, I have been appointed the Field Director for our GOTV effort.  Things are jumping here.  We are phonebanking and canvassing from this office and the seven satellite staging locations we have recently established.

If there are any Fieldhands from less competitive neighboring states, please come and help us.  Go to MYBO and put in zip code 30344.

 

 

 

Mikell Hagood

Well, I had to work today and take care of various necessities.  I have already described to you folks the conflict at the barbar shop today.  Even though I wasn't canvassing, you can bet that I use every opprotunity to ask people if they have voted--and to outline for them my reasons for believing that this is an important, historical moment.

Frequently, in traffic, I engage conversation with fellow citizens at stop lights. Rich, poor, black, white, hispanic, Nascar, yuppie--it doesn't matter, I will engage the people.  Today, I pulled up alongside a white Mercedes Benz.  At the first light, the driver, a woman, was talking on the phone, so I did not interrupt her.  Because she was off the phone at the second light I had my chance.  She was quite beautiful, and I thought she was Latina.  But, no, she was from South Africa (Indian), and it turns out she is friends with the Obama family!  Incredible.

After the trauma this morning at the barbar shop, this woman invigorated my hope.

You never know who your allies are folks.  The liberal wing of the affuent class also wants moderate, healthy reform in the US--big-time. 

Tomarrow I have the opprotunity to canvass at 10:00am--and Monday I have to be in Jacksonville with work.  I am going to give my work tomarrow my best effort.  On voting day, Tuesday, I will be doing everything in my power to get of the vote.

These types of activities need to become second nature, and part of who we are as US citizens.  Now I am approaching strangers with no qualms whatsoever; I am not afraid that someone will have a different opinion, not afraid to engage people.  This is about the future of our country and the world--and what kind of world it  will/can be. 

Sure, some people are put off by the up-front nature of the exchange--but other people (like the woman in the white Mercedes) are empowered by the fleeting exchange of good will.

No, this is balls-to-the-wall until the polls close on November 4th--but I have the feeling that our ground game and enthusiasum will be the 'difference that makes the difference'.  Of this I have no doubt.

Yes we can!

(I love the fact that the Obama campaign literally hounds me to make commitments of time and money.  They won't let me become complacent or get discouraged.  And every caller is an interesting, nice person--from varied backgrounds.  These are not paid callers.  The engage this work because they understand that we need a stark change in direction in our country.  My fellow Obama supporters give me renewed faith in our country. )

I'm at a phone bank in Burlington, VT, and today I was given a GOTV packet for Pennsylvania (I think the maybe 50-60 volunteers in the office had already run through the VT and NH lists).  Probably a 40% contact rate and everybody, except one, had voted or was fully committed to voting on Tuesday.  I was calling many college kids on cell phones and they were all super-excited to vote.  I asked one "Do you have plans to vote on Tuesday" and she gushed "YES, I have major plans to vote on Tuesday."  The best was the 51 year-old female I spoke to.  I was a little more wary calling this demographic, but when I identified myself as a volunteer from the Obama campaign, she laughed out loud (in a good-natured way) and said "Are you kidding me, are you guys double-teaming me?  Seriously, I have people from the Obama campaign knocking on my door right now.  Gotta go and speak to these people."

KD

Today the Obama office in Cape Girardeau, MO was packed with local volunteers and out-of-state volunteers had to go to another office up the street. My husband and I got a great response while canvassing. Also, we saw many, many more Obama signs than McCain ones. This  precinct was composed of both Caucasian and African-Americans.

After finishing our assigned area, we went to a local restaurant at the mall. The 3 Caucasian ladies at the next table stated they liked my Obama t-shirt and wished they had one. I told them I had some Obama buttons and they snatched them up quickly. (I personally purchased these to hand out in Missouri).  Later our Caucasian waitress commented that she really liked my t-shirt. She received a button too, which she quickly placed on her apron! She said she really wished she had a Yard sign, though. My husband went to the car and produced one for her. I asked her if she would get in trouble at work for wearing her button. She replied, "we're all for Obama here." (This was an Italian chain restaurant.) 

I know Cape Girardeau County goes Republican, but Obama/Biden have some decent support there. Would love to see Missouri turn blue since it borders Illinois.

   

  

I'm Jeff, and I was sitting at a table phonebanking with Olivia (comments, above) today. Just wanted to add a story to the list, as I stayed on after Olivia left.

+ Olivia and our other friends met Thelma, a wonderful woman who grew up in Florida (the state we were calling) and told us she was arrested back in the '60s during the Civil Rights era. Thelma was awesome, and seemed to have a magic tough calling fellow Floridians.

Shortly after Olivia and the others left, Thelma asked me to call back someone on her list whom she had just called. Turns out the voter told Thelma she didn't drive, and Thelma, understandably, politely told her thank you and good-bye. Thelma asked that I call back and let this voter know she could call a number to arrange for a ride to the polls.

When I did, the voter said she was already arranging with a cousin to take her to the polls tomorrow. This woman barely spoke English, but she sure did know the word "excited." She used it before I did. I told her I was excited (I am!), and thanked her.

Also of note, Thelma's 16-year-old son, Shawn, was on hand to make calls. He's in the Rotary Club, as Thelma told us. I pointed out that Shawn, as well as some other ~14-year-olds, would get a chance to re-elect Obama in 2012.

 I arrived at the Encinitas CA phone bank this morning around 8:45 by 9:15 we had around 50 people there. We were just one of over 10 of these going on around San Diego County. These are going non-stop from early morning to 7pm est. They did training for newbies and let loose the old hands to call Ohio. We were calling supporters & many un-identifieds. I was encouraged by many of the responses of excitement.  I had some rural lists and Akron. Got a few McCain voters, and lots of wrong numbers, but the campaign is able to scrub these from GOTV lists for Tuesday. When I left a whole new group was showing up. I will be there for 4 hours tomorrow and Monday. Tuesday for me is all Prop 8 all the time.

Now that Michigan has become more secure, I definitely can't report the incredible volunteer turnout that John Greenberg did, but it seems we have enough to get the job done. With the help of a couple friends, we knocked on a couple hundred doors today in south (poorer) Lansing, and the campaign is setting up temporary remote headquarters to be more efficient. Not many stories to tell from today (though it was pretty cute when a group of children followed my friends to help knock on doors), but there's a couple of things I've found interesting about the experience thus far:

-The number of voters who have a sincere emotional investment in Change/Obama. The hope and the desire is real in many of the people I meet (interestingly, I don't find this to be as true in East Lansing, with students). Their hope is humbling and is probably the largest driving factor for me to want to continue the organizing after the election; I don't want to let these people down.

-I've had a peculiar number of white voters tell me they are voting for Ron Paul. Either, 1) they are just trying to be funny or 2) they don't know that Paul isn't actually on the ballot in Michigan. It makes me wonder how they're actually vote, if at all.

-It is incredible (to me anyway) how easy it is to use false rumors to suppress voters. Many of the people I'm contacting are low-information voters, many voting for the first time. They are confused by the process and are full of questions. I'm glad to answer them, but sometimes the questions surprise me because they've obviously heard something like "you have to own a house to be able to vote" or "you have to vote downtown, which is really far away" from somebody. So even when I don't make a contact, it's good to know that leaving the voting location literature at people's doors is helping to spread the truth.

Went out for the morning shift today in Richmond (VCU area) -- damn college kids were all asleep and hung over. Going to give it another go tomorrow hopefully we'll get some more people home.

I live in CT and I can't travel too far away now, so I'm going phonebanking from home.  Called Ohio and Colorado.  As you might expect lots of folks in CO had already voted.  It was hard to get through to people in OH.  There were still some wrong numbers in both lists.  I talked to one elderly vet in CO who voted for Obama because McCain voted to cut funding for the VA.

I'm not sure what this says, but as a CT resident I was offered a choice of calling OH, CO, or VA.  I have been mostly calling PA before this weekend, so this is a change of options.  It does tend to confirm Nate Silver's theory that if McCain has a big enough late surge to make it close, the election will likely come down to CO, NV, OH, PA and VA.  

 

Here in the land of the Palin, we Obama volunteers are focused on calling into swing states.  (Other volunteers are canvassing for Begich (Senate) and Berkowitz (House)).  My wife Kathy is precinct captain and is spending the day working the phones and reporting the call stats for a varying group of 5-10 volunteers calling into Montana and Iowa.  I'm schlepping the boys to soccer and taking care of the sick dog.  I was able to stop by for 45 minutes of Montana calls in between soccer games.  The Montana list has a lot of McCain supporters on it, for some reason, so you have to steel yourself for the hang ups.  The McCain people I talk to are grumpy--not very happy with the way the election is going, methinks.

Yesterday one of my calls to Nevada reached a paid staffer for the Obama campaign.  She promised to vote, after thanking us for our help.

Less than 3 days to go!

My dear county of residence and employment is largely red, and I've encountered swaths of McCain/Palin lawn signs in my neighborhood as well as in Glen Mills and Media where I canvassed today.  My canvassing partner and I managed to find enough Obama supporters who promised to vote on Tuesday to allay some of our anxieties.  There are plenty of boots on the ground from the Obama campaign's large presence here as well as union members (I've seen SEIU folks going door to door).

I received a barrage of phone calls today from campaign volunteers, including a few from New York and Maryland, asking me if I had time to phonebank, canvass, be a polling station manager, and everything else in the book.  As red as Delaware County is, the campaign has this place well covered, and I will continue to get out the vote until the polls close Tuesday night.

Good response today in Northeast Philly, a largely white working-class area that went strongly for Hillary in the primaries. One woman told me she was going to vote for Obama until someone told her he is friends with a terrorist (Ayers). I talked her out of it, and I think she is going to vote for Obama now.

One guy was cynical about all things politics, and said he might not vote for the first time. He loved Hillary of course, but Barack seemed "sneaky" to him. All these people hate McCain's policies and hate Bush, but something is holding them back from committing to Obama. This guy's neighbor came out and helped me convince him to vote for Obama.

I think race was the unspoken factor. A few weeks ago a woman told me she hated black people when I came to her door. That was the first thing she said to me. Then she invited me in her house and eventually told me she's voting for Obama. Yeah. 

All the kids in the neighborhood seemed like they were pro-Obama, and I gave them stickers. One African-American kid saw my shirt and yelled "Obama word up!". 

We told people where their polling places were and warned of long lines on Tuesday. Most people seemed willing to wait for awhile. That worries me the most though - some people have to work and are voting on their lunch break. They can't feasibly stand on line for hours.

I'll be in Philly on election day monitoring the lines though, hopefully everything goes relatively smoothly. 

For the last three days I joined our staging location canvass. Today we never could get out there since we sent out 98 volunteers, knocked on 960 doors and had so much going on at once that the traffic through had to slow to a crawl. Yesterday we knocked on 300 doors. We did every walk pack in the place and had a dozen more made, all gone too. Different teams were meeting up at the edges of each walk pack in the three towns, comparing notes looking for that crazy obscure street with one voter living on it together. Meeting homeowners on the drive out of their long driveways getting an ID that we would never get at home in a divided house. The energy was incredible. Some of the opposition was getting upset saying "why are you talking to me I'm a Republican." It was really a movement of community with food being brought in. Our vis people holding signs in the town centers all day. One old guy came up and asked, aren't you a couple days early. Many people crossing the road to tellus why they are supporting Obama. It's not finished though and we have a distance to go yet.

Along with my fellow fieldhands in safe states, New Yorkers are reaching outward. For the first time in recent memory, Union Halls are being turned over to the campaign for as long as we need them. Today, we set up six mega calling centers on Long Island. I will be working out of the IBEW hall in Hauppague. The new first time callers got their feet wet calling all our local volunteers urging them to sign up for shifts over the next 72 hours. Tomorrow (and Monday and Tuesday), all the calls will go to the swing states. With enough volunters, we will be going full out until the final bell rings on Tuesday.

Here in the Keene, NH staging location, we had over 300 volunteers show up, only for canvassing.  We ran out of walk packs at around 200 folks, so we sent over a hundred volunteers to outlying field offices for canvassing.  50+ Yale College Democrats showed up, as well as a Huffington Post "OffTheBus" journalist.  Most of our volunteer force was out of state - Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, and Illinois all had at least 3 volunteers apiece.  Five students from Montreal showed up at 8PM - I'm honestly not sure what they expected to accomplish then. 

 

After the first shifts were done, we sent over 80 people to go do visibility - our phone lines were 100% in use, all day, so there was nowhere else for them to go!  Approximately 20 McCain supporters showed up to counteract us, but given the relative quiet of their campaign headquarters I had the impression that that they sent a significant majority of their volunteer force to combat our visibility crew.   

 

I'm listening to our conference call now - we've signed up over 1.1 million canvassing shifts nationwide, 13.3 million contacts in the last two weeks, and 1.9 million newly registered voters nationwide.

 

We're printing turf now.  I'm going to try to keep you all posted but I have no laptop or internet connection available on a reliable basis.

 

Good luck to all you field organizers out there - we're the cogs that keep the machine running.

Don't screw up!

Yes, I know.  We are a really, really big R red state.  But, we have to start somewhere don't we?  Our early voting has been incredible.  I canvassed for our local candidates today and talked with a woman who said she had to leave the polling place because the wait was too long but I am sure she will vote.  She was adamant about it and she and her husband are Muslims.  They are so excited!!  Yes, I said Muslims.  We have Muslims in Oklahoma.  Can you believe it?  Actually, I am teasing.  I live near the University of Oklahoma and we have quite a diverse town.

 

I have hope even for Oklahoma.

 

I know that Oklahoma will vote overwhelmingly for McCain.  I am not delusional.  Like I wrote, we have to start somewhere.  I think that it is by one person at a time, one vote at a time and people like us that do not give up.

Love ya'll,

Julie

Please ignore some of the comments on the Newsok articles.  They're disgusting but they are not as numerous as they used to be.  It's the articles and the pictures that I wanted you to focus on.

Would you please email me at narconews@gmail.com ?

I have a follow-up question for you. Confidentiality guaranteed.

- Al

We did a rural albemarle county canvass in the lovely countryside around Charlottesville.  The day was exceptionally nice and there are a million things going on in charlottesville this weekend, so my contact rate was low, but interesting.  I saw some of the wealthiest properties of my life, and so after this canvass and my canvassing in the southwood trailer park where we targeted spanish speaking voters, I feel like I have a new perspective on the immense range of american inequality.  Most folks were Obama supporters, though I get the sense that, this being the first election cycle in my life (i'm 34) that virginia is competitive, folks were not particularly comfortable being canvassed.  this is all okay, though, because there have been hundreds and hundreds of volunteers in charlottesville, and the operation here seems to be running extremely efficiently. just on the downtown mall, they have three separate offices-- one for general info, another for canvassing, and a third for phone banking. there are also at least two other offices in charlottesville, and many canvassing staging areas at the university of virginia and in various neighborhoods at people's houses.  when we returned our packet and offered to canvass tomorrow, they told us that charlottesville was essentially finished to their satisfaction and they encouraged us to volunteer in other towns, such as stanardsville, luray and harrisonburg.  Because my wife's family is from luray, we had decided to go there tomorrow, but when we called the organizers in luray, they told us that luray was essentially completed as well.  OK, so this is a huge shock for us, because luray is our sort of mythical model of "most conservative place in the universe".  Estela tells me that when she talked to the luray organizer, she was told that there have been a huge influx of volunteers from northern virginia canvassing in luray, on top of a large group of local folks working tirelessly.  the organizer thinks everyone has been visited at least 5 times, so they are going to hold it at that.  

Because Estela and I are musicians, one of the charlottesville organizers asked us to give her the phone numbers of all our musician friends, so that in addition to chairs, blankets and snacks for folks waiting in line, they can also be entertained by live music at voting locations all over charlottesville.

We know that Nate Silver pronounced Charlottesville as having the best run republican office that he had seen, but despite their love of extra large billboards, there is no apparent presence of a mccain ground game anywhere to be seen.  The upshot is that it feels pretty good here in central virginia.  I feel confident that we are positioned to win this one.

Just got off the phone on a conference call with 20K volunteer Neighborhood Team Leaders.  Obama talked to us about the need to give every hour we can to the GOTV effort.  He said we can sleep after the election and that no one needs more sleep than he does. He said we are on McCain's 5 yard line and we have the ball.  Of course, he thanked us.  

I am almost speechless at the attention and care that this campaign has given to us as volunteers.  Here in MO, we are in the dead heat phase of the election. 72hrs. to go.

One other point Barack made was that the real work starts after the election...I agree.  How 'bout you?

Thanks for all the work each of you do.  

LC   

We had a full contingent of people to knock doors today in Carson City, NV.  The Californians headed out in the morning while the locals marched in the town Nevada Day parade.  Rene Russo came over from CA to appear in the parade with the NV Obama contingent and she stopped by the local staging office to offer us her thanks and encouragement for our efforts.  And later, after the parade, she hung around and posed patiently and happily with anyone who wanted their picture taken with her.

Even though our GOTV canvassing lists were scrubbed of early voters through Thursday, an incredible percentage of the people I found at home today had early voted on Friday (Nevada Day is officially Oct. 31 and a state holiday so many had the day off from work).

One or two of the people I visited were cranky that so many people were knocking their doors, and I crossed paths several times with a team from the local AFSCME chapter who were also canvassing.

One young woman I contacted said she was voting for McCain, and her mom called out from inside the house "I voted for Obama so I cancelled her out!"

I wonder if we're going to have any more doors to knock tomorrow and Monday!  If not, they'll probably put us to work phonebanking until Tuesday, when the last push to get those voters to the polls begins.

Here in Obamaland Chicago, the Lake Street office was insanely, ridiculously busy today.  When I walked in the lobby of the building (not the Obama lobby itself), there were easily 15 people with clipboards and cell phones sitting on the floor and steps phonebanking.  Once I got to the Obama office lobby, it was a madhouse and I realized why some were sitting in the building lobby - there was no room at the Inn!  I have no idea how many people were there but suffice it to say that all the rooms were jampacked with only floor seating available.  I ended up on the floor for a bit sitting on my down jacket and then scored a seat about 1/2 hour later.

I got a list of numbers to call which were all in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was so fun to be part of the enthusiasm in the room and everyone had a smile that they couldn't hide.  Local TV anchorwoman MaryAnn Ahern was there taping a couple of local politicians phonebanking.  One of the guys sitting near me got off a phone call and announced that all 6 in the house had already voted for Obama.  I told him great - I think that cancels out all the Palins.  

All in all, a successful day capped off with an anonymous donation of about 70 pizzas from the world famous Giordano restaurant! 

p.s. I just saw the most recent poll in Iowa by Ann Selzer which has it at 54 O 37 M.   Iowa comes thru again big time. 

 

Our organizer from Brooklyn said more than 1500 New Yorkers came down to North East Philly today. In our ward alone, every single Obama supporter was contacted: 8130 doors, and 4053 phone calls. We did the "three pass" system, speaking to 50% of the people on the first pass, another 25% on the second pass, almost no one on the third.

We canvassed in a predominantly African-American area. Great enthusiasm about voting. A determination to vote, regardless of long lines. I wonder if the McCain supporters will be as persistent. One woman, 46 years old, said she had never voted before. Also white people: "I'm tired of being screwed by my government."

Afterwards phone banking at one of the staging areas. Rumors spread that Republicans were calling Obama supporters and giving them false information about polling locations so we start leaving the phone number for the Board of Elections so they can check their location objectively.

Great day of canvassing today. We've got more then twice as many GOTV volunteers as Kerry had and Minnesota was a lot more central to his strategy then it is to the Obama strategy.

I was on the conference call mentioned above and blogged it and all the numbers here.

http://populistareport.blogspot.com/2008/11/obamas-campaign-shatters-rec...

Fired up!

Just got back from a houdini meeting in Derry, I'm on the senior volunteer part of the GOTV team as a data captain for a small town, so I have access to all the vote goals for the region which is kind of scary.  But it goes back to respect empower and include.  However, all the area staging locations were bursting today, and a lot of students from Brandeis and Tufts were in the area adding to our muscle.

I have not posted here before but have been reading the blog for months now (since before your move actually).  We are from Texas and knowing that TX is going McCain (though I think with some heavy pushing esp. of the hispanic vote -it might have been a different story) we have been volunteering here in TX.  Neither living at this house have ever been involved in a political campaign before.  Same story as millions out there this year.  A couple of weeks ago we went to New Hampshire for a few days vacation and spent the weekend while there canvassing since New Hampshire is a "swing state" and TX is not.  We have mostly met the most wonderful folks. Stories similar to what we read here.  One old guy 78 years old that came over from Greece when he was 30 and told us he worked 2 jobs to put his kids through college and now they have great jobs!  He was the MOST fired up supporter of Obama I have ever met!  Seriously he was a walking political ad. 

This weekend we could not go out of state to canvass as we have to work part time Sat-Sun and Monday.  So spent the day phonebanking from home to CO.  Many have already voted.  A few McCain supporters (and yes they are grumpy) but mostly Obama supporters that are fired up.  Several parents of kids that are now in college elsewhere and when asked if they too supported Obama - they all answered Yes!  One 75 year old guy named Leland.  His wife answered first and when I asked for Leland and explained what I was calling for she wanted to know  "If I am the one for sure voting for Obama in this house how come I am not on that list!!!  I have told Leland I am divorcing him if he votes for THAT WOMAN!"  She then went and retrieved Leland from the garden and we together (with her yelling in the background) convinced the heretofore undecided Leland to vote for Obama.  He wanted to know if being from TX had I "learned my lesson" and not voted for Bush in 04?!  I assured him I had not voted for Bush in 04 and wanted his promise in return to vote for Obama in 08 and 12!  Leland was super impressed that someone from another state who had never done this before would be willing to spend their Saturday afternoon calling other people to vote.  I agree and thank every person involved with this campaign across the nation that are giving up their time and efforts!

For every house in America that has one or two folks who have never done this before in their lives (like us) and now here we sit involved...this campaign has absolutely changed the face of politics as we know it.  And most importantly - now that I know what it is like to be involved........in TX speak - "I ain't goin' back!"   Indeed a new wave of people power has begun!

 

I'm in a wheelchair and going crazy being on the sidelines during all this weekend's action, and my darned battery even died! So I had them park me at my telephone and I'm stuck here this evening phonebanking off the computer to Indiana next door. I haven't worked phones since Tsongas '92! This is much easier, too. My contacts have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic, and I can tell instances where my calls made an impact. It's only hooking interested folks up with their polling places, easy as that. Really appreciate your blog. See you in Grant Park!

Back from canvassing the GOTV in Charleston, Missouri.  I was a first-timers and didn't know what to expect since during the drive into town, most of the yard signs were for McSame.  Our lists contained only likely Obama supporters.  We sent out five or six groups to canvas, hitting, I'd say, 400 homes.  Most of the voters we spoke with were wildly enthusiastic.  A few had voted early.  Only one flat-out refused to listen, and this voter was a one-issue voter (abortion).  We had a full day and I left energized about the prospects for Missouri.

I was most psyched because my canvassing partner today was a first-time voter who not only just registered, but also was motivated enough to come out and volunteer.  So much for that idea that those newly registered voters aren't enthusiastic.  Bonus:  we were also able to recruit a couple of volunteers for election day.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/31/politics/p201650D83.DTL&type=politics

I'm another reader who has never posted, but seeing the other reports from Berkeley, CA made me want to jump in.  As the others said, the energy was amazing.  Barbara Lee stopped by with some of her grandkids and gave a pep talk.

My personal lists (Florida, I don't know where) were terrible -- lots of disconnected numbers and no one at home -- but the bells were ringing with other people who were reaching voters.  When I left, I was asked three times for my next shift.  I'm actually doing voter protection tomorrow and Tuesday (I have to work Monday), so this was my last shift at the HQ, but I know it will be packed to the end.

Thanks for this forum -- I really have appreaciated it for the duration.

 

We canvassed today for the Obama campaign in working-class neighborhoods of Nashua, New Hampshire. With large pockets of Latino residents, we found that especially among young Latinos Obama was quite popular. Since voters can register on Tuesday for the first time with any photo I.D. and a piece of mail, a big part of the effort is to get residents who are still not registered voters to understand that they can register and vote all at the same time on Tuesday.

McCain had a bit of support among older Latinos. What was somewhat disturbing was the hostility from working-class white families in the mixed neighborhoods.We even observed several confederate flags being displayed, not something usually scene anywhere in New England. The organization of the campaign was quite impressive. The hoards of volunteers were enthusiastic and the information gathered seems like it will be effectively employed in Tuesday's well-organized gotv in New Hampshire. As we all saw in the primary --albiet a different type of election-- New Hampshire voters aren't easily polled and you get the sense that there can be no let-up on the ground game in New Hampshire despite its being listed as a "safe" Obama state at this point.

I had to same experience phonebanking to Columbus, Ohio as Catherine Cain.  I had spent all week in Milwaukee working in the main HQ there.  I have a family member who is directing field operations in WI so that was par for the course. 

Anyway, I decided to spend 5 hours today since I am back in Chicago now, phonebanking at the Lake Street HQ.  I walked in and saw people on the floors and in the hallways making calls.  I must have missed the Giordanos Pizza though (bummer).  The room was buzzing.  I made 150 calls today.  Spoke to lots of people who had already voted and many others who planned to vote on Tuesday.  I left many messages and got some disconnected numbers. 

Tomorrow I will be calling other African Americans in Indiana from home.  I am committed to making 250 calls.

I have been working like CRAZY since Iowa (having canvassed there for Barack during the primaries). As a long time community organizer this is beyond EXCITING for me to see how this campaign has evolved.  I can't wait for Tuesday and look forward to celebrating in Grant Park. 

My wife and I started out at the North Minneapolis office this morning--eighth canvassing trip for me this year, first for her (she just got through an arduous actuarial test this week). Beautiful weather, 50 degrees warming up to 60 as the sun got higher.

Like most of North Minneapolis, our turf was heavily African-American (and not lacking in motivation), so the main job was to convince folks that our guy Barack needs Al Franken in the Senate to help get stuff done. This argument proved effective (even to one twenty-something woman who responded, re Franken, "He's crazy, isn't he?" Well, she allowed that she'd vote for a crazy guy if that'd help President Obama).

The only pothole in our first run was that there had been a snafu with the turf organizing; at various times during the morning and early afternoon we collided with three other Obama canvassing teams that had been given turfs that overlapped with ours. C'mon, organizers!

 

We ate lunch at a well-known Minneapolis bakery/sausage shop/cafeteria specializing in Eastern European food. The four early-twenties young women behind the cafeteria counter were fascinated by our Obama pins, etc., and were excited to tell us how their (Ukranian & Russian immigrant) families had recently gotten their citizenship and were planning to vote for Obama en masse. A few hours later we dropped in and bombed them with Obama/Biden buttons.

 

Late afternoon, we went and picked up my wife's sister (old hand at canvassing) and mother (60-ish Indian immigrant, first time door-knocker) and then headed to the Northeast Minneapolis campaign office, which just expanded today thanks to a big infusion of union help. They sent us to the north edge of the city--slightly less urban than the neighborhood my wife and I canvassed this morning, and a more even mix ethnically.

As a group of four, we positively blitzed that turf. One highlight was a tiny blond-haired kid coming to the door with his Obama-fan dad; recognizing a face on one of my buttons, the kid yelled "Obama!" Cute.

Low point was a freaky 50-ish white guy walking out of the side door of his bright-yellow house; after my intro, "Hi! We're getting out the vote for the Barack Obama and Al Franken Campaigns!", he hollered, half-enraged, "You have GOT to be KIDDING me!", stomped inside and slammed the door. Mom, my door partner, was still muttering her disapproval an hour later. Me, I have visions of decorating his lawn--tastefully!--with a huge OBAMA campaign sign at about 3 A.M. Wednesday morning, just in case he forgets the name of the president-elect. My wife and sister-in-law voted against that. (Phooey.)

Anyway, we're all going in for a double-shift tomorrow, with more to follow. I have to love the nice weather, because I HATE phonebanking.

 

So: no mercy, guys! Thump those Repugs everywhere!

I had a great day of canvassing in Tacoma, WA . . . whenever my energy is at its lowest, it seems I come to a house that is so fired up for Obama that I can't help but get re-fired up and it helps me with the rest of the canvass shift.  The excitement people have in Obama's candidacy is priceless.  Also, last night when I was trick-or-treating with my daughters, a woman that I had helped register a few weeks ago, recognized me and was so excited to tell me how excited she was that she got to vote for Obama . . . I love that kind of stuff!!  

I just knocked on some doors here in Boulder today. Most of what we're trying to do in my precinct until the end of Sunday afternoon is to inform our voters with mail-in ballots that were not reported as received by the clerk's office as of Saturday:

a) that they cannot show up on Tuesday at their polling place and expect to vote or turn in their mail-in ballots at the polling place (don't ask me why not! -- just the rules).

b) also that they should hand deliver their ballots to the county clerk's office at this point, so as not to take the chance of late delivery. 

Boulder is a pretty easy sell for Obama, but it is very important we get every single vote out of this city and county to counter the Colo.Spgs. neo-concrazies (no offense to the Obama folks down there!). Then we'll start the election day GOTV on Monday.

In case you haven't seen the stats elsewhere, CO is reporting that over 68% of the 2004 voter TOTALS have voted already (1.47 M 2008 early/ 2.1 M 2004 all votes cast), with the registration of those early/mail-in voters split 37.7 Dem / 35.9 Repug / 26.4 Unaffiliated. Lots (sorry, no stats) of those Unaffs (like me) are Obama votes up here.

This is the source of my stats, if you're looking for a source:

http://elections.gmu.edu/early_vote_2008.html

(thanks to brownsox at dkos for site)

Obama's done his part; We now make it happen!

I've had a schedule between full time work and full time school that has prevented me from actively canvassing; however, twice a month I run the snack bar for a Bingo game where the players are mostly +70.  I wore my Vote Nov 4th Obama T-shirt today and a solid dozen of the players stated that they would vote or had already voted for Obama.  At least one of the ladies also stated that she had voted No on 8.

I'm finally caught up on work and school, so tomorrow I will head over to the Hayward CA Democratic Headquarters to phonebank, canvass or do whatever they need.

So I contacted my local Obama office to volunteer (MKE). I offered anything and everything from phonebanking to driving for GOTV. The response? Pollwatch. The Obama office said that they are completely covered in WI, with the exception of pollwatchers. I am signed up to work on Nov. 4. For any Wisconsinites, please call your local office and sign up.

What y'all said. 

Overflow crowd at the HQ, 20+ teams out canvassing, folks are fired up, already voted, or ready to go!

Massive

I did a few days of work for Move On in 2004. Not to knock those folks, who were doing the best they could with what they had, but....  

It's night and day this time round. The precinct captain for Obama here was terrific. Part of why I can tell you exactly what we're doing and why we are visiting the homes is... he told us!  With MoveOn, it was "here's a list, go get them to vote!".  The local satellite office here (and I mean LOCAL -- three blocks away!) really takes the "Respect, Empower, and Include" motto seriously and has internalized it. 

My wife did data entry this morning at Berkeley, CA HQ. As reported elsewhere it was packed. She did data entry for Florida.

 

She relates that people were saying that CA has done more phone calls than the rest of the nation combined, and that whenever Chicago HQ sets a phone-calling goal for CA to meet we blow by it...

Did my packet earlier today in a predominantly African-American neighborhood. The enthusiasm was staggering, as was the contact rate - 23 voters out of over 40 doors (can't remember the exact number of doors, but can remember the contacts - long day). Nearly half of the people had already voted (today was the last day of early voting in NC).

Knocked on one door and announced myself as being from the Obama campaign. This was followed by a chant of "Obama! Obama! Obama!" coming from multiple voices on the inside as the listed voter confirmed that she had already voted. Smiles, waves and shout-outs directed our way from others in the neighborhood who knew what we were there for (word might have passed around by the time we were finishing up - or maybe it was my Obama paraphernalia I was sporting that gave me away). It really was so inspiring - it's sometimes difficult to convey that feeling to others. The great thing is, I get that feeling every single time I go out canvassing! 

I'm on for tomorrow and all in on voting day. Thanks to all those who have canvassed or phoned in NC! Anxiously looking forward to Tuesday to watch NC go blue. It feels great to be a part of it all. 

When I knock on all these doors and I get folks genuinely thanking me for doing what I'm doing (knocking on doors and getting the vote out) it seriously makes me want to do it even more. Great feeling. 

Three days. Yes. We. Can.

We canvassed in Northern Las Vegas today after seeing Barack in Henderson Nevada. This is our third weekend in a row in Nevada. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area and have been to 3 unique and interesting areas in Nevada for the last 3 weeks. Today they organized all of the volunteers at the Obama rally this morning... on a nearby field transferring all the excitement and energy straight to the streets. We didn't run into a single McCain supporter all day! We made contact with 50% of the voters on our list and found many who voted yesterday. This experience is so encouraging and meaningful to us. It shouldn't shock me but it's still so jarring to see so many foreclosed and empty homes as we walk through neighborhoods of all types and to meet so many people frightened about losing their jobs, their insurance, and the roof over their heads. Thank you all for sharing your stories today... you have all inspired me for so long and I've never felt so confident and motivated. Yes we can.

We had our last phonebank at my office today in West LA, CA - we've been there on several Saturdays lately - and today was our biggest group yet.  Probably 40-50 people.  We also got ahead of the available call lists at times.  Several callers mentioned seeing some nut talking on CNN or something and just had to come in and make more calls - so all those "tightening" stories on TV are a good motivator!

Our calls were to NM and NC, I haven't gotten the final numbers yet but I'd guess about 3000 calls made.  We still had a vast majority of unanswered calls, had one undecided (good Lord, what does it TAKE?), mostly supporters, many had already voted.  Got several "Everybody in this house is voting for Obama".  An elderly guy that had been pushed to Obama by the Palin pick.  Many people inundated with calls from different groups, but they feel they are all from the Obama campaign.  I'd be curious after the dust settles to see some research on this level of calling - is there some saturation point?

I know I've definitely learned so much.  During the first rounds of calling there are many times you hang up the phone and know you could have handled it better.  But you learn from each one, and the successes are inspiring.  Last week I felt nervous, and by the end of today I felt more sure that Tuesday will be our day.  Making calls Tuesday will be like a party - I can't wait...

I write to convey a phenomenon I didn't really expect -- bandwagonism.  I'm a Northern California enviromental litigator, part of a fairly small world of people who sue and defend polluters here on the North Coast.

I spent all of last week door-to-door canvassing in Henderson, NV.  Back at work this week and responding to the hundreds of e-mails and dozens of phone messages, I spoke with an opposing counsel (a polluter's attorney) about my trip to Henderson.  He thanked me for my work.

The next day, I get a call from his partner.  An unbelievably pompous polluters' lawyer I've locked horns with several times in the past.   This lawyer said he'd heard about my trip to Nevada and wanted to know how it went.  He said he'd canvassed for McCarthy in 1968 and that he wanted to take his college age kids up to Reno so they could all share in the experience.  He drilled me on what to expect, what kind of work there was to do, how organized the Obama Campaign was, etc.

We had a focused and practical discussion and he hung up, cheerfully thanking me for my work and fully planning the trip with his kids to Reno (or South Lake Tahoe).

This is a guy who a couple of years ago pulled out all stops to help refineries continue to dump dioxin into San Francisco Bay.  Someone who defends companies that put lead in consumer products.  I was flabbergasted.

So, there may be some complacency (though I've yet to see any evidence of it) but there's also a filling-up bandwagon of the most unlikely volunteers who want to be able to say they worked on this historic campaign.

Never thought anything could be more important than electing Obama, seeing what this campaign has inspired, I'm reminded of words of Dag Hammarskjold in his book Markings:

"For all that has been, thanks.  To all that shall be, yes."

I have signed up with the NY Call team. I have called from home or from local phone banks for the last 3 weekends. Yesterday's phone bank was in a beautiful setting on the Hudson River on a bright sunny day. Many vounteers enjoyed the yard while calling supporters in FL to GOTV. I am volunteering there again today!

I like the positive energy that comes from being around other supporters! I also love the anecdotal stories on the Field and DailyKos, particularly the photo diaries of rallies or early voting that I can't experience here in a non-battleground state.

I worked the first shift yesterday (~11am), but parking was scarce, the sign in sheet was full, and voices drifted from many rooms as prospective voters were called. In my 3 hours, I called ~120 numbers (did 2 passes through my lists), left many voicemails with early voting & Election day info, and spoke to ~ 50 people. Half had already voted themselves for Obama/Biden and many told me their entire family also supported Obama. Most were very enthusiastic about their support.

My list had many disconnected wrong numbers, similar to the Erie PA lists I used on the previous weekend. I only had 2 hang ups, but several voters told me I was the 2nd or 3rd Obama GOTV phone call they had received. Three people ended the conversation with me because an Obama canvass team was at their door!

Only one McCain supporter on the FL list who asked (nicely) why he wasn't off the list since he's been called alot during the last 3 weeks. I replied that I didn't know why he was still on the list, but maybe the campaign still had hope for him. :) When I called Erie PA, I did get one McCain supporter who answered my question with nasty foul language. Since I grew up in the Blair/Bedford county area of Central PA, I wasn't surprised by the response. I replied (nicely!), "Oh! So then do you support Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, Ron Paul, or ...?" I didn't even have to finish the question because he hung up. Heh Heh Heh....

I am volunteering again this afternoon at the local phonebank and the RSVP list on BO.com show 30 people signed up for the first shift & that doesn't count the volunteers from other organization who will come too. I know this is happening across New York because the wrap up teleconferences I get invited to in the evening discuss how many areas of NY are contributing to the GOTV effort.

I will make calls from home later today and Monday evening too. I donated a little on Friday too when requested by the campiagn. I like their cajoling emails that keep me from being complacent. Thanks to everyone here doing what they can on this historic movement! I am inspired by Barack, by the campaign, and all my fellow volunteers! I too want to leave everything on the road!

Susan